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May 29, 2015

A lover and daily consumer of chocolate, it was only natural that during my weekly grocery shop last week a block of Cadbury's limited edition Dairy milk with Vegemite and Dairy milk with pretzel and peanut landed in my trolley.

Trying both blocks that evening, I far exceeded my daily dose of chocolate.

Starting with the block of Vegemite I was meet by the familiar and inviting waft of dairy milk chocolate. Hit with a salty note as I bite into the chocolate, the taste of vegemite quickly followed only to be overtaken by a combination of caramel and melted dairy milk chocolate. Feeling satisfied I stopped after a few squares, the taste of vegemite returned and lingered for a short while.

Moving onto the pretzel and peanut block, lighter in colour, this time I was meet by a waft of peanut. With a light crunch coming from the pretzel it took several bites before I reached a piece of peanut, moorish I moved onto another row where I came across a candied salty piece of pretzel and/or nut, it was hard to tell.

Comparing the two for me the winner was the Pretzel and peanut, deliciously moorish, unlike the block of vegemite I would buy it again.

May 24, 2015

The Home Food and Design Weekend was held in a large marquee outside St Mary's cathedral this weekend. Finding out about this free event via Instagram only days ago, yesterday I checked it out.

Hosted by several well known Australian food and lifestyle magazines, the inside of the marquee contained two stages for food and lifestyle demonstrations and several stands including a Robert Timms stand serving complimentary coffee.

Arriving just in time for the second cooking session of the day, Fran Abdallaoui, The Australian Woman's Weekly food editor demonstrated how to cook beef bourguignon and creme caramel. She also shared the below tips, for cooking these dishes:

If you can't find gravy beef when cooking beef bourguignon chuck steak can be used.

To prevent your beef from burning, don't coat your beef in flour before cooking, instead add the flour to your pan as you are cooking your onions.

To remove crystallisation that may occur whilst melting the sugar for your creme caramel, brush it away with a pastry brush which has been dipped in water.

To easily remove your creme caramel from its baking tray, run a wet paring knife around the side of a tin. Place your plate flipped over on top of the tin, than careful flip the tin over, allowing your creme caramel to fall directly onto your plate.

Overall it was an enjoyable morning, the cooking demonstration was informative, the Robert Timms coffee was good, the food samples yummy and the goodie bag contained some great items.

May 18, 2015

Hoping to get Gabby eating fish again and more vegetables, last week I made a batch of salmon patties. Served with home made potato chips, mushy peas and a dill mayonnaise it was an enjoyable meal not just for Gabby but for Mr FPL and myself.

Steps:
1. If not using precooked mashed potatoes, boil a few potatoes and mash with a little butter and milk to make at least one cup of mashed potato. Allow to cool.
2. If using fresh salmon steam the salmon till it has been cooked through, cool and flake. Discard the skin and any bones.
3. Add to a large bowl the mashed potato, salmon, egg, flour, corn, parsley, salt and pepper and mix till all combined.
4. Using a heaped tablespoon of mixture, shape the mixture into a patty and place it on a tray lined with baking paper. Repeat till there is no mixture left.
5. Using three bowls add the cup of plain flour to one, two beaten eggs to the second and the cup of panko breadcrumbs to the third.
6. One at a time dip each patty in the flour bowl, followed by the egg wash and lastly the breadcrumbs. Return the patties to the lined tray.
7. Add enough sunflower oil to a pan to shallow fry the patties. Once the pan has been preheated, cook the patties in small batches till golden brown on either side. Try not to overcrowd your pan.
8. Place the cooked patties on a plate lined with paper towel to soak up any excess oil.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 till all patties have been cooked.
10. Serve warm.

May 15, 2015

Breakfast tagine, $22.50, number 55 on the top 100 Sydney dishes to die for list (The Sunday Telegraph, Dec 14).

Last weekend the Fizzy pink lemonade family headed to Kazbah in Balmain to try the breakfast tagine.
Arriving just before nine am we were the first customers of the day. With the choice to sit anywhere, we choose a table by the front window.

Our waiter was fantastic, giving us a generous amount of time to look at the menu and than taking the time to explain the items along with some suggestions we choose the the lamb mince breakfast tagine, the Bisteeya (a new item on the menu) and scrambled eggs on toast.

Gabby's scrambled eggs arrived first, being a fan of egg she gobbled it down within minutes. I'm sure if she could rate food she would have given them a ten.

Next to arrive was the tagine. Served on a wooden board sat the enclosed tagine, toast, Lebanese bread and a piece of lemon. As the waiter lifted the tagine lid he revealed a colourful combination of lamb mince, sucuk sausage, spinach, roast capsicum, roasted tomato, feta, caramelised onion and baked eggs.

Ordering a serving for one, the size of the tagine was generous. Containing good quality and tasty ingredients the tagine was full of flavour and spice, I must admit a glass of water was needed.

The Bisteeya, best described as a pie, contained a mixture of prawn, chorizo and kasseri cheese enclosed in layers of filo pastry. Around its outside sat a ring of avocado, labnah and roasted capsicum. Also full of flavour and not so much spice, this dish was delicious!

Overall I went to Kazbah to try the breakfast tagine. Appealing to the eye, full of flavour and spice I can see why this iconic dish made the list. However I loved and still am craving the Bisteeya. Perhaps it can be added to the next list.

Gabby wearing a Pumpkin Patch dress. I'm wearing a Cotton On plain top and Forever New woolen skirt.

Four generations

Yesterday to celebrate my second Mother's Day I held breakfast at my place.

Keeping the decor simple I covering the table with a white and navy Florence Broadhurst tablecloth, placed a crystal vase of white and green spider chrysanthemums on the centre of the table and wrapped silver stretchy string around the cloth napkins.

The menu consisted of typical breakfast dishes however with a twist. Instead of toast I served a chorizo stick I picked up the day before from Adriano Zumbo's Balmain store, served purple pancakes thanks to the addition of mulberries (tinned, as currently not in season) and opted for homemade honey butter over plain butter.

What we ate:

Muesli with blueberry and maple yoghurt topped with mulberries parfait.